Only five Premier League Darts certainties according to Glen Durrant: "After that, you have probably six or seven players chasing the last three spots"

One of the hottest topics of conversation towards the end of the PDC World Darts Championship, is always the selection for the upcoming Premier League Darts campaign. With this year's selection proving one of the most difficult to call, even former winner Glen Durrant is struggling to predict the lucky eight.

"As I found out, the Premier League is a shop window for the highs and lows of darts. I went from the unbelievable high of winning it in my first year to the bottom of the pile 12 months later," says the 2020 Premier League Darts winner in quotes collected by The Express. "Playing in front of up to 12,000 people every week, in almost a rock-star environment, is an experience you can’t describe, but this year’s field is incredibly hard to call. The top four in the order of merit are automatic picks, but the other four are invited partly on their charisma, experience and appeal as crowd-pleasers."

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Durrant believes there are only five certainties - Luke Littler, Luke Humphries, Michael van Gerwen, Rob Cross and Stephen Bunting. "After that, you have probably six or seven players chasing the last three spots. Three of them are former world champions and at least two of them could be struggling to make the cut," the Sky Sports pundit evaluates.

Glen Durrant won the Premier League Darts in 2020

"Michael Smith ticks every box as a crowd-pleaser, but he fell at the first hurdle at the World Championship and he’s on the cusp of falling out of the top 16 in the rankings now, so he is vulnerable," Durrant continues. "A year out of the Premier League might be beneficial as he looks to rebuild and when he comes back stronger, as I’m sure he will, Michael is going to be a Premier League big-hitter for many years to come."

"Peter Wright has been a fans favourite for ages, but he has finished bottom of the last two Premier League tables and only won two of his 18 games last year, so he is at the mercy of the selection panel," adds Duzza casting his eye over other former world champions. "Although Gerwyn Price has not had a great year, there is still a geographical element to the makeup of the eight-player field. A Premier League night in Cardiff with Gezzy on stage is a fantastic atmosphere and he is still a top 10 player so, for me, he comes to the party again."

"That leaves the likes of Nathan Aspinall, Chris Dobey, Mike De Decker, Damon Heta, Jonny Clayton and Chizzy (Dave Chisnall) competing for the remaining spots," Durrant concludes. "The PDC are keen to spread their gospel on the continent, and Belgium is a growing market, so I would give Mike De Decker a go - he won the World Grand Prix and he was unlucky to run into Luke Woodhouse, playing the best darts of his life, in the early rounds at Ally Pally. Dobey would raise the roof on a Premier League night in Newcastle, and Damon would be great for the TV ratings in Australia and New Zealand."

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